Gift giving is typically a very personal experience. In the conventional gift marketplace, a gift giver travels from store to store and finally selects a gift from a variety of gift items to match the recipient's own personal desires and needs. Once the gift is selected by the gift giver and purchased from the store vendor, the gift giver presents the selected gift to the recipient. Upon discovering what the gift is, the recipient may be overjoyed with delight or may be less than satisfied with the gift selection. In many cases, the less than satisfied situation is because the gift giver did not completely understand or perceive the recipient's desires and needs. Thus, the recipient is forced to physically return the gift to the vendor in exchange for another gift or a gift certificate.
In the electronic or online gift marketplace, the gift giver is no longer required to physically travel from store to store. As a result, the gift giving process has become a bit easier in that electronic commerce, commonly called "e-commerce", takes place across large data communications networks, such as the global Internet, and can be accomplished from one location using a single network device, such as a computer. Accordingly, in the electronic or online gift marketplace, the gift giver can search for the recipient's gift by browsing information at particular network locations (e.g., websites) using a conventional piece of software called a browser running on the computer. Many websites offer the ability for the gift giver to electronically purchase a gift item online. Once the item is selected online, a list of items selected to be purchased is usually maintained in what is commonly known as an online shopping cart. In such a situation, the gift giver can shop for and select the gift in a more efficient way.
However, the gains in shopping efficiency when conducted online are still coupled with the same exchange problems when compared to conventional shopping and gift giving. In an online situation, the recipient still must receive the gift and physically return it when they are not satisfied with the gift. In other words, a gift exchange still requires the recipient to get the gift and physically return it, resulting in continued inefficiencies.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system that allows for efficient acceptance and exchange for an online gift that does not require the recipient to receive an undesired gift and physically exchange the gift.